Parker and Taurasi Get Ekat Past Prague

09.01.2013

EUROLEAGUE WOMEN

Candace Parker ran the floor like a guard for UMMC Ekaterinburg, picking up fast-break points like pennies

Two sublime performances from Candace Parker and Diana Taurasi fired UMMC Ekaterinburg to a 94-75 home victory against ZVVZ USK Prague as the tournament favourites retained their perfect record in Group C.

Whilst an eighth win in as many games never truly looked to be in doubt, the visitors did make it a fascinating encounter after posting a blistering 29-18 second quarter to level the scores at 51-51 at the interval.

It was a highly entertaining first half of action and as Ekat left the court to head for the locker room,s visibly rattled at their unexpected blip, there was a sense that Prague would probably have a storm to try and ride out when they returned - and so it proved.

For as terrific as the visitors were and especially defensively, Ekat were back to their brilliant best at the start of the third period and Prague couldn't cope as the hosts shifted though the gears.

A 22-4 run, finished by a score from Ewelina Kobryn restored the early dominance of the Russians to effectively kill off any notion of a shock road win.

This was something which was always going to be tough for Prague to achieve with Parker and Taurasi in such irresistible form. The former finished with a double-double of 26 points and 14 rebounds, whilst the latter had 24 points and seven assists.

Prague had five players in double-figures, including Ilona Burgrova who attained 14 points from six of nine floor shooting, as the Czech club slipped to a 3-6 record.

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